


Things Can Only Improve

by eafay70



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-08 04:48:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13450893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eafay70/pseuds/eafay70
Summary: Sid's semester starts off about as badly as possible. His new roommate makes things much, much better.





	Things Can Only Improve

**Author's Note:**

> Another week, another SidGeno Fluff Fest fic! =D This week's prompt is "college."
> 
> The plot of this fic is based on my real life. I decided to spare Sid's feelings by making his ex-roommate a bad roommate, unlike in real life where my ex-roommate was one of my best friends until that day. To be completely honest, I still hate my ex-roommate for her thoughtless actions, which is why I used an OC for Sid's ex-roommate; I chose the name Dominic from the villain Dominic Badguy in the film "Muppets Most Wanted."

Sid stared at his half-empty room and...felt numb.

Twelve hours ago, he'd texted Dominic to let him know what time he planned to get back to campus. It was the polite thing to do with one's roommate, even if they hadn't said a word to each other during winter break.

Six hours ago, Dominic had texted back that he would get to campus after Sid and that they needed to talk. This had made Sid nervous - hadn't they resolved their problems before winter break?

Three hours ago, Sid had arrived on campus. He'd noticed right away that the RAs had put new signs on everyone's doors - and the sign on his door only had his name on it, not Dominic's. What was going on??

An hour and a half ago, Dominic had arrived on campus and informed Sid that he was moving out. Apparently the problems hadn't really been resolved, despite what Sid had thought.

And now, Dominic was gone, as was all of his stuff. He was moving to one of the first-floor suites next to the laundry room, and Sid was by himself in a too-big double on the third floor.

His numb feeling was probably due to everything having happened so fast, Sid reasoned. And it probably didn't help that Dominic hadn't been the best of roommates; Sid strongly suspected he'd lied on the questionnaire used for the random selection process. And when push came to shove, Sid still needed to unpack his things and get organized for class in two days.

A knock on the door made Sid jump. He opened the door and sighed in relief. "It's just you guys."

"Of course it's just us guys," Flower said as he led the self-dubbed 'Francophone clan' inside. "Who'd you expect?"

"The RAs," Sid admitted. "I figured it'd be standard for a situation like this, not that I want to talk to them."

"They'll probably stop in tomorrow," Tanger said. "It takes a while to get an updated switch list."

Sid gulped. "That doesn't sound pleasant."

"Yes, well, the powers that be should've thought of that before expanding the size of the freshman class without building more dorms," Flower declared. "Anyways, the switch list is a list of people in forced triples. When a vacancy arises, they're the priority to fill that spot. Apparently a lot of vacancies pop up between semesters."

"Oh." Sid blinked a few times, not sure how to react. "I don't think I know anyone who'd be on that list."

"That's why we're here - well, partially." Tanger grabbed Sid by the arm and started walking towards the door. "We're taking you to the caf to make sure you actually have dinner, and while we're there, we're telling you about Geno."

"Who?" Sid asked as he somehow managed to grab his ID card, room key, and coat before being dragged into the hallway. "Who's Geno?"

***

As the Francophone clan explained over dinner, Geno was a freshman officially known as Evgeni Vladimirovich Malkin, though his fellow Russians called him Zhenya. He was currently living in a forced triple in a different dorm; Flower and Tanger had met Geno through an anthropology class the previous semester. 

"He loves hockey," Tanger informed Sid. "Seriously, he rivals you in terms of NHL obsession."

"Yes, you're obsessed," Flower added before Sid could object. "And that's why we thought of him as soon as we saw that dumb-dumb lugging his bags down the stairs. You deserve better, and Geno's perfect for you."

Sid sighed in resignation. "What team does he support?"

"He's anti-Philly more than pro-someone," Tanger said. "Or at least that's what he says - I get the impression he'd be in a lot of shouting matches with Alex."

Alex, as Sid would discover a few days later, was one of Geno's roommates. To be specific, Alex was the biggest Caps fan Sid had ever seen, if the ridiculous amount of swag was anything to go by - seriously, how was there room for so much stuff in a forced triple??

"I left my Rangers stuff back in Russia," explained Pavel, the other roommate. "And Zhenya doesn't have a lot of Penguins stuff - a couple jerseys, a handful of knick-knacks, and an [Iceburgh plush](http://www.teampittsburghgear.com/assets/product_images/GNOIKHEANDACMAKF.jpg) for some reason. Who brings a mascot plush to college, seriously?!"

"Silence!" Alex sent a very large Slapshot plush soaring into Pavel's part of the room. "You just jealous Rangers too sucky for a mascot!"

"Flyers worse!" Pavel retorted. Everyone stopped what they were doing to applaud the veracity of that statement.

It took about an hour for Sid, Geno, and the Francophone clan to bring all of Geno's stuff to Sid's room. As soon as the Francophone clan left the room for good, Geno pulled Sid into a bear hug. "Thank you so much, Sid. Can't thank enough - Sasha and Pasha great guys, but starting to feel way too crowded."

"You're welcome," Sid managed to choke out. "But you're kind of squishing me."

"Oops." Geno let go of Sid and took a step back. "Flower and Tanger say other guy hurt Sid's feelings. I'm see that here - room not looking so great."

"What do you mean?" Sid followed Geno's gaze around the room. "You still need to unpack, but otherwise things look fine."

"Sid not unpacked, either," Geno explained, pointing to the half-opened suitcases sitting in front of the closet. "And trash still here - been a week, Sid!"

"Oh." Sid walked over to the not-quite-overflowing trash can and picked it up. "I guess I didn't notice. I'll empty it now." He walked out of the room and down the hall to the main trash bins, where he emptied his trash can before returning to the room. "I won't let that happen again."

"I'm not let you let happen again." Geno smiled as Sid put the trash can back on the floor and added a clean bag. "Other guy very mean?"

"He didn't tell me he was moving out until the day we came back to campus." Sid sighed and fell backwards on his bed. "Things hadn't been great during finals, but I thought the meetings with the RAs had taken care of that. I was wrong."

"Oh, Sid..." Geno knelt beside the bed and rested his hand on Sid's shoulder. "Things get better, I'm promise. Can talk to me any time, can ask for hug any time...can even ask for stuffed penguin cuddle any time, no matter what Sid think of Penguins."

"I love the Penguins!" Sid pointed to his nightstand, which featured a small pile of hockey pucks. "Those are all from Pittsburgh! I just haven't unpacked my stuff yet - I don't like leaving it places."

"What waiting for, Sid?!" Geno stood up and pulled Iceburgh from one of his bags. "This room need be Penguins shrine!"

***

Sure enough, it took only a few days for their room to be practically covered in Penguins memorabilia. Geno's Iceburgh plush spent his days on top of the Russian's dresser, and Sid had adopted Geno's habit of tapping Iceburgh's beak for good luck before leaving for the day.

Sid had also become a part of Geno's bedtime routine with Iceburgh. Every night, Geno would take Iceburgh from the dresser and mumble to the penguin in Russian while walking to the bed. Once under the covers, Geno would hold Iceburgh so he was facing Sid and say, "Iceburgh's Papa going to sleep, so Iceburgh and his Papa say good night and sweet dreams, Sid."

"Good night and sweet dreams, Iceburgh and Papa Geno," Sid would reply, usually from his own bed. He would stay awake for a minute or two, smiling at the sight of Geno cuddling Iceburgh, before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

All in all, things were practically perfect with Geno as his roommate - and that was becoming a problem, because Sid was falling for Geno.

Sid was tempted to blame his feelings on the fact that Geno was such a good listener whenever Sid wanted to rant about classes or hockey or leftover resentment of Dominic, but he knew that wasn't quite right. He also knew that he couldn't chalk it up to Geno's love for the Penguins being equal to his own. No, Sid was falling in love with his roommate because...well, he couldn't really finish that sentence. But it was true.

Geno had told Sid he was bi during a conversation about the ridiculous on-ice stretching routines of hockey players; Sid hadn't really understood what one fact had to do with the other, but he'd told Geno he was gay because it'd seemed like the right thing to do. As far as Sid could tell, this knowledge had only intensified his feelings, which wasn't pleasant.

To make matters worse, Sid and Geno had been roped into putting up posters for the Valentine's Day semi-formal by Flower and Tanger...or, to be more accurate, by Vero (Flower's girlfriend) and Cathy (Tanger's girlfriend). In any case, Sid and Geno were spending a lot of time together with a lot of heart-covered posters, which was leading Sid to imagine what it would be like to go to the semi-formal with Geno...which was a terrible thing for Sid to be imagining!

"Why is all of this so terrible?" Taylor asked, narrowing her eyes over the webcam. "You said you wanted to wait until college to date because you didn't think it'd go over well here - and you're probably right - yet you're freaking out that you've found someone you're actually interested in?"

"He's my roommate!" Sid whined. "I don't want to lose two roommates in one year!"

"Dominic moving out doesn't count as a loss." Taylor smiled her 'younger but wiser sister' smile, which felt just as patronizing via Skype as in person. "Just ask him to the semi-formal. You can always say that it was just as friends."

Sid sighed. "I guess I'll try."

"Good!" Taylor blew him a kiss, and they said good-bye before logging off.

Much as Sid hated the idea of disappointing his sister, he made no effort to ask Geno to the semi-formal. Instead, when the Saturday night in question rolled around, he was still at work outlining the history essay he had to write over the coming week.

Geno came into the room and gasped. "Sid not getting ready?! Going to get stuck in line for food if not early!"

"I have food in the fridge," Sid replied, ignoring the fact that he could smell Geno's aftershave and therefore infer that he'd just taken a shower and was now changing into his suit. "I'm not stupid enough to try getting food from the caf after hanging up all those posters with 'caf will be closed during this event' in big print on the bottom."

"You not going?!?!" Geno muttered in Russian for a few seconds before switching back to English. "Sid not stupid in general, but I'm think Sid very stupid right now. Iceburgh agree!!"

Against his better judgement, Sid turned around to face Geno, who was mercifully in a dressing robe. "I'm not going to the semi-formal. I honestly don't know why you thought I was."

"Because you love this stuff! I'm there when you tell Vero and Cathy you love fancy suits and dancing and romance, remember?!" Sid had to nod - he did, in fact, remember the conversation from the first time they'd picked up the posters. "Why Sid not going??"

Sid shook his head and screwed his eyes shut, not trusting himself to speak with the lump in his throat.

"Oh, Sid..." Geno's voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm sorry. I'm not want upset you. Opposite, really." He sighed softly. "After you're say you love this stuff, I'm make plan - we go at same time, it feel like fate...I skip to end of plan, okay? Need you to open eyes, please, Sid?"

Sid opened his eyes and stared in confusion. Geno, still in his dressing robe, had picked up Iceburgh and was walking with him to bed...but speaking English: "Every night I'm tell you how much I like him, but tonight I think he's know it, too." He got under the covers and held Iceburgh so he was facing Sid. "Iceburgh likes Sid as much as Iceburgh's Papa likes Sid, so...can Iceburgh say Dad? Good night and sweet dreams, Dad?"

"I..." Sid's jaw dropped. "You're using a mascot plush to ask me to be your boyfriend?!"

"Only if it work," Geno replied. He looked nervous, which Sid had never seen before and hoped to never see again.

"It's worked." Sid walked over and knelt beside the bed, tapping Iceburgh's beak before resting his hand on Geno's shoulder. "Yes, Iceburgh, I'll be your Dad. I like your Papa a lot, too."

Geno's face relaxed into a big smile. "Semi-formal good first date?"

Sid checked his watch and nodded. "If I hurry, we won't get stuck in line for food."

"If we stuck in line, I'm just hold hand longer, so I'm not need you hurrying."

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated! =D Please let me know if there's something I should tag, or if I should change the rating.
> 
> For the record, though I imagine this isn't a surprise to anyone, the romantic nature of the happy ending isn't true to my real life. My new roommate did help me a lot emotionally, however.
> 
> Also for the record, I was having a hard time thinking of another Russian for the forced triple, so I decided to use the only Russian on the Rangers. It also set up the mascot diss perfectly! (The Flyers and the Rangers are the only two mascot-less NHL teams.)
> 
> And: I was unable to find a picture of a very large Slapshot plush online, so imagine [this](https://a248.e.akamai.net/media.zulily.com/images/cache/product/452x1000//197342/zu41996822_main_tm1474307468.jpg) but much bigger.


End file.
